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Missing California Teen Found Dead With 'Traumatic Injury' To Her Torso
Samantha Bustos told her mom she was going to sleepover at a friend's on Friday night but she went to a party instead and now investigators are trying to determine why she was found dead in an industrial area.
A missing teen was dead found Monday in an industrial area of Los Angeles and her death has been labeled a homicide.
Samantha Bustos, 15, who lived in an unincorporated area near Gardena went missing last week and her body was found Monday in Compton on the grounds of a business, CBSLA reports.
Her death has now been ruled a homicide but the exact manner in which she died hasn’t been released. However, detectives did say that she suffered a traumatic injury to her upper torso, the Los Angeles Times reports.
“The cause of the traumatic injury is unknown,” Los Angeles Sheriff’s officials told CBSLA.
The teen was found in some bushes on the property of National Retail Systems.
I got a call early this morning that they had found a body on the perimeter of the property,” Andy Miller, the company's executive vice president, told KTLA-TV Channel 5 on Monday. “We’re cooperating with the police in every way possible. They asked for [security] camera footage over a period of time.”
Bustos was last seen alive on Friday according to her family, who reported her missing on Sunday.
Blanca Bautista, the victim’s mom, said Bustos went to a party on Friday night after fibbing to her parents, telling them she was going to a sleepover at a friend's instead.
“They found her, and I don’t know what to say, I don’t have words,” Bautista told reporters this week, CBSLA reports. “[The suspect or suspects] hurt her bad. They tried to clean her face, she had blood all over her face.”
Bustos was a sophomore at Compton’s New Designs Charter School.
Anyone with information on the case was urged to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tips may be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS or at lacrimestoppers.org.
